Energy Vote Fails Senate Cloture, 59-40

Senate Majority Leader Reid says his intention is to eliminate the tax title and return with a bill including CAFE standards and renewable fuel provisions. He hopes to finish debate on the energy bill today.

Good.

UPDATE (10:25 a.m.): Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) very positive about outcome, congratulates Reid, promises to work together on renewable fuels.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) follows by characterizing his opponents as craven, condemns oil companies, preaches class warfare. “The future just failed by one vote. The past is preserved,” he complains. The oil companies “continue to have a death grip on the Senate,” Durbin says, threatening political reprisal. Very ugly stuff.

UPDATE (10:28 a.m.): Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) responds (paraphrasing): Aren’t prices of gasoline high enough? Why would we want to raise the price of gasoline on the consumer by raising taxes on oil and gas producers? That’s just what we heard here.

The Administration also supports an ambitious alternative fuel standard, which should include an effective safety valve, should be technology neutral, and should rely on market innovation instead of statutory prescription. The proposed legislation, however, is excessively prescriptive and fails these tests, picking and choosing among fuel types, and failing to include an adequate safety valve.